Tuesday, March 13, 2012

This is Elizabeth Santorum's sincere smile after she's held it bit too long (for which a politician or his daughter has many an occasion) and thus starts to display her bottom teeth. Ms. Santorum's eyes display the required (for a sincere smile) partial closure as well as the concave-up furrow on each lower lid (see also: Secret # 353: Brad Pitt's Eyes - Sincere and Insincere Smiles). Her forehead is relaxed and smooth without any muscle contraction - also a must for a sincere smile. Elizabeth's upper teeth are perfectly displayed which is also characteristic of the joy-happiness emotion - however the lower teeth are beginning to show. A few seconds before this photo, her lower teeth were covered. Her sincere smile has been held too long (externally displayed as well as emotionally-internally felt) and so it has "degraded" to an 80% sincerity level (still an outstanding "Social Smile" - and indeed much better than most). It now has to be partially forced - so the corners of the mouth pull a bit less upwards, and a bit more laterally.

If Elizabeth's mouth were the same as in this photo, but her eyes were open in a relaxed-resting state, her smile would be insincere. The partially closed eyelids with the concave-up furrow is a body language absolute when measuring the authenticity of a smile.

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This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.